


Marrying Well (and other things that concern Sakura’s mother)

by The_Uninspired



Category: Naruto
Genre: Cultural Differences, Gen, Gender Roles, I didn't realize Sakura had a canon mom in the anime until after writing this, Marriage, Misunderstandings, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Sorry Mebuki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 03:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Uninspired/pseuds/The_Uninspired
Summary: Ninja and civilians do things differently. Even Sakura forgets this sometimes.





	Marrying Well (and other things that concern Sakura’s mother)

There’d been hugs, then smalltalk, then tea. Her mother had grilled her about her new position at the hospital (tough but good) and her social life (limited; see previous). Sakura had asked after her father (busy) and what her mother had been up to (she read a lot of books). Tea all drunk, gossip all gossiped, Sakura had the simultaneously exciting and terrifying realization that it was probably time.

“Mom,” She announced, bracing herself for impact. “Lee and I are getting married.”

Her mother’s reaction was more subdued than Sakura had expected, though she was willing to admit that long-term exposure to Rock Lee might have permanently fried her sense of perspective. Her mother stared at her open-mouthed, just long enough to make it awkward. Then she smiled and grabbed Sakura’s hand.

“Honey, I’m so happy for you.” She said. “That boy treats you right. A man should be able to take care of his wife.”

Sakura smiled blandly back at her mother, taking the comment as the compliment it was meant to be, however misguided. After a childhood of believing every word her mother said about ‘what it meant to be a woman’, followed by a rebellious teenage phase of fighting over everything from a woman’s role in the home to the proper modest hair-length, Sakura had finally learned to just leave it alone. At least her mother wasn’t malicious about it, which was more than Sakura could say for some of the people she’d been unfortunate enough to work with.

“He’s good for me.” Sakura agreed. “And I’m good for him too. I’m just… really happy, mom.”

“That’s wonderful Sakura.” Her mother said. She wasn’t smiling anymore though- she had a tense little frown on her lips.

“What is it?”

“It’s just…” Her mother cleared her throat. “His family. His clan. You haven’t told me about them. Are they big? Well off?”

Sakura laughed in relief. So that’s what this was about.

“No, mom. Lee hasn’t got a clan, or a family at all, unless you count his teacher who’s pretty much his dad. He’s not a ward either, he was fostered until he was old enough to room at the academy.” Lee was one hundred percent unattached and already over the moon about becoming a Haruno. Sakura herself was more than a little thrilled at the idea of bringing a husband into her family. The Haruno family wasn’t a clan at all really, nothing more than a barely-established civilian family with a thin thread of ninja-blood that popped up once or twice a generation. She wasn’t even the Haruno heir, that was her cousin Yasu. As a ninja she was practically at the bottom of the social food chain. Even disregarding her many girlhood Uchiha Sakura fantasies, she’d always assumed she’d be marrying into another ninja’s clan. The only way another ninja could have lower familial standing than her would be to have no family at all. Enter Lee, stage left.

Sakura smiled and patted her mom’s arm. She was actually a little touched by her concern. Given the way she went on and on about ‘decent men with good breeding’ Sakura had assumed her mom was eager to get her out of the family and into someone else’s. It was nice to know that she’d be missed.

Her mother was still frowning though. “And his rank? Is he a jounin as well?”

“Special jounin. That’s the one between chuunin and jounin.” Sakura explained. And even if they both were jounin, clan standing usually took precedent in these sorts of things. If she were a genin and Lee were a jounin then maybe it’d be more proper to marry into his family… but even then, maybe not. She certainly couldn’t have denied Lee even if that were the case. When she’d offered him her family name he’d cried for an hour, just wailing and holding her tight. Overkill? Sure. But also just about the most precious thing she’d ever seen. She might have even cried a bit too, not that she’d ever admit it. “Don’t worry about it. Lee’s already started calling you ‘mom’.”

“Is that really proper?” Her mother asked, brows furrowed.

“I should hope so.” Sakura said, unsure of the problem. “Maybe it’s a bit early, but in just a few months he’ll be a Haruno.”

“Wait.” Her mother glared at her, more befuddled than angry. “He’ll be a Haruno?”

“As opposed to…?”

Her mother huffed. “As opposed to you joining your husband’s family and taking his name!”

Oh. Yeah, that would explain a few things.

Sakura remembered the little ‘girl talks’ her mom used to give her as a kid, all about being a proper woman and her duty to family and village to have a family of her own. They had definitely included something about finding a man with a decent family, since she’d have to go join his when she got older. At the time she hadn’t thought much about it, and in hindsight she’d assumed her mom was just talking about finding a clan with higher standing. Now, with even more hindsight, Sakura could see where her childhood self had utterly failed to extrapolate from her mother’s implications.

Sakura took a few deep breaths to keep from laughing.

“Mom, ninja care a lot more about clan than gender.” She explained, trying not to sound too exasperated or amused. “Our family isn’t big or powerful, but it’s more than Lee has. So as a ninja it’s proper and expected that Lee will marry into our family.”

“Oh.” Her mother said, still looking a bit confused. Then she patted Sakura’s hand and cleared her throat. “Well, in that case… I’m sure you’ll take good care of him?”

The hesitant comment was more of a question than anything, but still Sakura laughed in happy surprise. She leaned over and pulled her mother into a hug.

“Thanks mom,” She said. “I’ll try my best.”

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned in the tags: didn't realize Mebuki was canon. I never watched much of the anime and I just figured she was fanon lol. Oops!


End file.
